


Ride the Waves

by hopeforthehopeless



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, F/M, I suck at tagging, Minor John Murphy/Raven Reyes, Minor Monty Green/Nathan Miller, Minor Octavia Blake/Lincoln, POV Bellamy Blake, POV Clarke Griffin, best friends brother, lifeguard!bellamy, like barely any angst, nothing really happens when she's underage, smut comes at the end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-04-07 19:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14088210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeforthehopeless/pseuds/hopeforthehopeless
Summary: Bellamy’s job as a lifeguard was the best thing that ever happened to him. That is until Clarke Griffin came around and changed all that in more ways than one.Or the four summers that Bellamy took her breath away and the one that it was the other way around.





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so this is my first fic so be gentle but if you have any feedback please let me know! I'm still working out my writing style so sorry for the mess you're about to read. Also this wasn't beta'ed so if you see any mistakes let me know! It'll get better I promise (I hope!) Enjoy I guess

Becoming a lifeguard was easily in the top five best things that ever happened to Bellamy Blake. The other four were things like surfing his first barrel, getting into college, losing his virginity and of course when Octavia was born. She was trouble but all the hell his little sister put him through, like having to swim against the current after she’d dropped her favourite doll in the river near their house, actually paid off cause it made him a strong swimmer, which is how he got into lifeguarding in the first place. 

After his mom died in the spring right after his 19th birthday, Bellamy knew two things. One, he was going to do whatever it took to keep the 14 year old Octavia in his custody and two, he needed a job and fast. Luckily he had just finished his first year of college, which gave him the time to get a full time summer job and that’s where being a lifeguard at Arkadia Beach came in. 

It would be his third year on the job that summer and with the mention of his tragic situation his boss Marcus Kane had no problem with promoting Bellamy to head lifeguard which was a full time position and a significant raise. This was a godsend for Bellamy because not only did he have a job, but he had a way to keep an eye on his little sister in a place she actually liked, not that he had to worry about that for two more months anyways. 

With his schooling ending at the end of April and Octavia not finishing until June, Bellamy got to experience two months of pure bliss. See, Arkadia was a tourist town that relied on the beach and boardwalk to make their income and it was known as THE place to party on the east coast (besides like, Florida). This meant that as soon as school was out Bellamy was surrounded on a beach full of hot college girls. Every. Single. Day. It was heaven. 

He was on the school’s wrestling team and he had to keep in shape for the job so Bellamy knew he looked good when we was up there on his chair, and judging by the amount of girls he was taking back to his office (perks of the promotion) on his breaks, the girls thought so too. Octavia was in school, he had a great job, was getting laid on the regular and it was great! Until the end of June that is. 

When the local high schools got out for the summer, the beach got a little bit nuts. He had Octavia with him every day.She was always either in her designated spot where he could see her from his chair or at the bar/restaurant Grounders that was at the edge of the boardwalk where after a little bit of sweet talking with their daytime bartender Indra, Octavia could get some discounted food and watch movies in the back room. 

The only problem with this part of the summer is the high school girls. God damn some of them are cute cause ya know he isn’t blind. But some of them are also fifteen and they flirt with him relentlessly. It’s always along the same lines, some were just more risque than others: 

“Hey Baywatch what do I have to do to get some mouth to mouth?

There was also the Hottie Lamottie with the Swimmers Body references from Hannah Montana thrown his way, the sudden influx of girls wanting to tan topless, and by far the easiest to deal with, the silent staring, blushing and giggling he gets when the girls are usually in a small group. 

The longer he spent as a lifeguard the more he got used to the idea of being the subject of teenage girls fantasies, not that he would ever do anything about it. 

That is, until Octavia wound up in one of the groups of teenagers who blushed and giggled at the sight of him. Not her of course, cause he’s her brother and hell no, but some of her friends….

God damn. 

xXx

The first time Clarke saw the Arkadia Beach head lifeguard she was pretty sure she had a stroke. 

After her dad died her mom had packed up their lives in California to move them to the sleepy tourist town of Arkadia, South Carolina when she got a job as chief of surgery at the hospital nearby. This would be her first summer in the town and from what she had gathered from the kids at school, the beach was everyone’s favourite place to spend their vacations. 

Arriving with her new friends Harper, Anya, Jasper, and Monty, Clarke trudged through the sand to find a spot the gang could set up as home base for the day. 

“ I want as close to the water as possible! If my feet aren’t wet at high tide we aren’t close enough!” hollered Jasper as he lead the way with the energy of a five year old down the beach. 

“No way! I wanna be closer to Grounders cause I want to go in and talk to Indra about a summer job and also easy food access” Anya called back. 

“How bout we meet half way and just set up in the middle of the beach. Close to both and a great view of the lifeguard station if you know what I mean” said Harper with a smirk.

“I second this!” Monty yelled “and since Clarke’s new she doesn’t get a vote so majority rules! Sorry, Clarke” he directed at her. 

“No worries I just want to read and tan and maybe swim at bit later.” replied Clarke. The group was just about to pass the lifeguard tower when Harper nudged her arm and whispered 

“Be subtle, but you have to check out the lifeguard in the chair when we walk past. He’s been here for a few years and he’s basically every girl in Arkadia’s summer fantasy”  
At sixteen, Clarke was always down to check out a cute guy, despite the fact she’d never been with one but hey she had time. As she passed the chair and glanced to her left, catching a glimpse of the supposed God-among-men-of-a-lifeguard, Clarke lost both her breath and her footing in the same moment. 

As cheesy and embarrassing as that sounds, at least the trip was justified. Having been more focused in her friends’ banter she wasn’t really paying attention to where she stepped and inadvertently tripped over the legs of a tanning girl in front of her, leaving her sprawled out on the send with her legs stilled atop the girl she tripped on. 

“Hey! Watch it!” the girl grunted out, sounding as if she had just been woken up from a nap, which now that Clarke thought about it was probably the case based on the way the girl was lying.

“Everything okay down there?” called a deep voice from above her and Clarke was pretty sure she could just die or at least bury her head in the sand for a decade. Either option would be better than what she actually did. 

Looking up, Clarke’s eyes found the owner of the voice staring down at her from his seat in the sky. Well he certainly lived up to the brief reputation Harper and Monty had given him. Dark brown eyes, lean muscles barely covered by a white tank top, bronzed skin from days in the sun and perfectly tousled curls, he was a modern day Adonis. 

Finally finding her words Clarke responded with a barely audible “all fine thanks” as she felt her skin blushing a bright pink under his gaze. 

“Wasn’t talking to you, princess” the lifeguard spit out “that person you’re just casually lying on top of is my sister. O, you okay?” 

“Yeah Bell, I’m fine” 

If it was possible Clarke could get any more red she were pretty sure she would be a lobster. Scrambling off the girl still beneath her, Clarke reached for the hand of the girl she assumed was “O”.

“Hey I’m so sorry! I’m Clarke”

The girl reached for the hand and took the assistance standing up and brushing the newly acquired sand off her legs. 

“Thanks. I’m Octavia! Don’t worry about my brother he tends to be kind of protective.” 

“I can hear you!”  


“Well you are” 

“Yeah, yeah” 

“Anyways,” said Octavia, drawing her eyes away from her brother and back to Clarke “you can make it up to me one of two ways: a strawberry milkshake from Grounders, or you let me hang out with your friends today” she sounded firm, but had a hint of nervousness in her voice that gave away that she probably didn’t have a lot of experience with friends before. 

Clarke glanced around at her friends who all just shrugged and nodded. Making her decision she replied “Why not both? Milkshakes for everyone. on me.” 

Despite the hoots and hollering that came from her friends Clarke couldn’t help but glance up at the older boy in the chair above her with a face that gave nothing away as to what he was thinking. 

“Buying friends, what a true princess” he grumbled, but the glint in his eye made her think he was hinting at something. 

“You want one?” Clarke asked, arching her eyebrow in challenge

“Double chocolate” he responded with a smirk. Clarke got the feeling that look got him a lot of things. Oh boy. 

With a gulp Clarke nodded and dropped her stuff next to Octavia’s in the sand before heading back up the beach with her friends for milkshakes. Stealing a glance over her shoulder at the curls poking out at the top of the lifeguard chair, she couldn’t help but blush. It was going to be a long summer. 

xXx

After that first initial wipeout, Clarke made it a point to bring Bellamy a milkshake when she got to the beach everyday. And she was there every day. Having taken a liking to Octavia and not really knowing her lay of the land, Clarke spent her days by O’s side quickly becoming her best friend despite the two year age difference between the girls. 

This was both a blessing and a curse for Bellamy. 

On the one hand he got to continue to be an 19 year old still and go to parties and hook up on the nights that Octavia stayed at Clarke’s house, and there was always someone to hangout with his sister when he had to actually be focused on his job and, ya know, saving lives (or at least monitoring) or when he was doing paperwork in his office.

On the other hand it was painfully obvious that Clarke Griffin had a crush on him, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. 

It wasn’t like he hadn’t noticed the same thing coming from some of the other teens he saw down on the beach, but none of them were Clarke. 

Clarke never hit on him, or giggled incessantly at his jokes, or looked at him like he was the boy on the side of an Abercrombie bag. It was just in the way she clammed up when he would walk in the living room and ask what the girls want for dinner, or the way he could feel her eyes on him both at the beach and his house when she was there. 

Not in a creepy way or anything! Just like a lingering gaze here, a telling glance there. Not that he really had a problem with it, but it was something that Bellamy decided just couldn’t happen. Also unlike the girls on the beach, he was getting to know Clarke. She was a nice girl. Quiet, although he had a feeling that might just be around him, but with a dry sense of humour that had him cracking a smile every now and then, and a shitty relationship with her mom which left her at his apartment more often than her own home. 

So Bellamy decided that he had to put a stop to whatever she was feeling when she would look at him and blush because there was no way in hell he was going to risk leading her on and fucking up the best friendship Octavia had ever had. 

As he cooked dinner one night in early August, Clarke sat at his kitchen table while she waited for Octavia to get out of the shower and quizzed him on trivia all the while staring at him admiringly when she thought he wasn’t looking. Bellamy decided that it was now or never to let Clarke down easy because with this crush persisting all summer and her going back to school the next week he didn’t want to hope that this thing she had would just fizzle out. 

After answering a question correctly on the Crimean War, Bellamy steeled his shoulders, cleared his throat and prepared to do his best not to break the heart of the sixteen year old girl smiting at him from the other side of the kitchen. 

“So, uh, Clarke, I gotta talk to you about something…” he looked up to find her ears tinged pink as she replied

“What’s up?”

Having gone over it a couple of times Bellamy knew what he wanted to say so he just decided to suck it up and rip it off like a band-aid. 

“ Look, I don’t mean to embarrass you, but I know that you’re into me. And I’m flattered and all but you’re my little sister’s best friend and I’m three years older than you, so I don’t want to get your hopes up. I’m sorry.”  
Meeting her eyes Bellamy watched as her face transitioned through a range of emotions that went from hopeful, to mortified, to disappointed and a little crushed, to a final and unexpected shade of anger. 

“Easy on the narcissism there Bellamy. So what? It’s not like you don’t think you’re attractive either, but if you think that I’m up all night doodling 'Clarke + Bellamy = heart' in my diary you’ve got another thing coming!” Clarke all but shouted. 

Taken aback by the aggression in her words and feeling the sting of the narcissism comment, Bellamy automatically went on the defense mode. 

“Woah I was just trying to let you down easy. You can’t deny you think of me like that, I’m not blind! I see the way you moon over me here and the beach and I just wanted to tell you it’s never gonna happen so you might as well stop trying to go for someone so far out of your league!” he growled

The look on Clarke’s face was one of someone who just got slapped and he could see the tears in her eyes but in that moment he couldn’t bring himself to show that he cared. Maybe him being a dick would snap her out of this. 

Before Clarke could respond, Octavia flounced into the room after her shower, completely oblivious to the exchange that had just taken place, but that was probably for the better. The girls then left in a hurry as Octavia called over her shoulder 

“We’re going shopping for dresses to wear to big bonfire on Friday! The sale at Polis ends in an hour so we’ve gotta go now love you!” 

And with that they were gone leaving Bellamy with dinner for three and no appetite. He hated that he made her feel bad, but maybe it was the shove she needed to find a guy her own age. 

Clarke avoided Bellamy like the plague for the next few months and by the time Halloween came around he rarely even saw her except for when he was picking up or dropping Octavia from her house, which is where the girls spent most of their time now. 

By Thanksgiving Bellamy barely even thought about Clarke and her summer crush. He went back to fucking girls as he pleased and plugging through the school year until he could have another undoubtedly hot summer. He couldn't wait.


	2. The Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn shows up..... drama ensues..... and Bellamy and Clarke are left alone in a backyard on a summer night. You do the math.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So I got really nice feedback from the first chapter so I came back with a part 2! I have tons of ideas for new stuff but I want to finish this first cause I can be bad for starting without finishing stuff so if you ever like something and I start to do that DON'T LET ME. 
> 
> So I really hate Finn just an FYI. Also I feel like this chapter *sounds* a little different from the last one. Not sure if I like it more or less or maybe I'm the only one who can see the difference. Next chapter will come in a couple days!  
> Also I don't live near the ocean so any of the life guarding stuff is pure bs just so you know! 
> 
> Enjoy!!

The girl who showed up at the beach on the first day of summer was not the Clarke Griffin he had met nearly a year before. Sure, she looked mostly the same, but there was just something about her that had him believing this was not the same girl who teared up in his kitchen over his rejection eight months prior. 

Gone was the shy blushing and sideways glances that she so frequently gave him last summer. She was no longer the new girl just getting her footing in a new town, but a recent high school graduate with a big group of friends and an aura of confidence about her that nearly rivaled his own. Not cocky, just sure of herself.

Also missing from last summer, was her beach cover up. Now, Clarke was 17 this year so it’s not like puberty had snuck up on her or anything, but it was like any speck of self-consciousness or baby fat had all but magically disappeared. 

The first time Bellamy saw her that summer he was walking out from his office in the tower over to the chair for his shift. All he saw was curvy legs and a perfect bikini bottom clad ass bent over and laying out a towel about twenty feet away from his chair and he figured today was going to be a good day. He had been hooking up on and off with Roma since April but they were far from exclusive, so he maintained gawking from the bottom of the tower stairs. He was about to go over and introduce himself and flirt a little before he really had to start his shift, that is until the owner of the perfect ass stood up straight. 

He recognized the girl as Clarke right away from the small angel wings tattoo on the back of her neck that was revealed by the messy blonde bun on the top of her head. Octavia had mentioned Clarke had gotten it to commemorate the anniversary of her father’s death in January and he had to fight like hell to keep Octavia from getting a tattoo of her own. Just because her friends were seventeen and getting tattoos doesn’t mean she could. Besides, Clarke had a reason. 

Picking his jaw up from where he seemingly dropped it on the beach, Bellamy made his way to his chair without so much as word to the group. Not having seen Clarke since Christmas, this uh development was a bit of a shock. It was only when he was switching with the lifeguard he was taking over for, Miller, that Clarke and her friends even noticed him. 

Their group had grown over the course of the past year after fully integrating Octavia and it looked as though there were a boy and a girl he didn’t know chilling among the teens he had met last summer. Miller made his way over to the group and plopped down next to the boy Bellamy knew as Monty, who although he wouldn’t admit it, Miller was seriously into. 

It was at this point that the rest of the group called out their hellos to him all except for the kids he didn’t know. Oh and Clarke, she just gave him a slight nod and grimace when he made eye contact with her before getting back to whatever she was giggling at with the floppy haired boy he had yet to meet.

In an attempt to test the waters Bellamy called down

“Hey princess where’s my milkshake?” finishing his question with a joking grin just to let her know it was made in jest and that he was hoping things wouldn’t be awkward. Clarke stiffened slightly before looking up at him with a smile that was much more cold than friendly. 

“In Grounders for $3. But I’m sure a big boy like you already knew that” she replied coolly before turning back to her friends. 

Sassy and confident… yeah this could prove to be an interesting summer for Bellamy to say the least. 

xXx

In the eight months that passed between the previous and current summer beach season, Clarke had done a lot of growing up. Struck by how ridiculous she had been for falling so hard for Bellamy considering he was only her first crush (besides Wells when they were like 5), Clarke got over him pretty fast, but the thought of facing him after their last awkward encounter wasn’t exactly something she was looking forward to, hence she began to invite Octavia over to her place more and more frequently, to the point she didn’t really see Bellamy at all anymore

Besides having Octavia with her so often made that big gaudy house feel a bit more like a home. She did feel at home in Arkadia now though, as opposed to last year. Her circle felt complete after the additions of Octavia, her friend from bio Anya and her boyfriend Finn.

He was a sweetheart and had pursued her from Thanksgiving to Christmas and finally wooed her by convincing her to take a walk with him to check out the lights in town, where he may or may not have hung a few strands of mistletoe along the route beforehand. Plus his great hair, charming smile and kind eyes didn’t hurt either. He made her happy. Lighter, somehow, in a way she hadn’t felt since before her dad died. 

As school ended and endless days at the beach began Clarke thought she had put last summer behind her. She wasn’t the shy and solemn new girl anymore. She had a great boyfriend, great friends and she was proud of who she was becoming. 

That is until old ghosts came to haunt her in the form of “Hey princess”. For an instant Clarke froze, mind flashing back to last summer where she pined and waited for him her his princess. 

She throws up in her mouth now just thinking about it. 

Not giving him the satisfaction of thinking he had any effect on her anymore, Clarke threw Bellamy the snarky remark she had practiced (okay maybe he had a small effect on her still) before returning to her friends, not letting him ruin her day. 

Slowly but surely Clarke allowed herself to warm up to Bellamy again, in a strictly-platonic, best-friends-brother sort of way. Basically she no longer cared about the past, and allowed him to become a comfortable presence in her life again. She’d even consider him a friend, not that she’d ever tell him that.

As Monty’s birthday drew near towards the middle of August, Clarke was on cloud nine. Everyone was getting along, in two weeks she would be a high school senior and she’d even saved up enough money from her job working nights at the amusement park down the boardwalk to afford the used Jeep she’d had her eye on without asking for help from her mom.

She was just heading over to the lot with Finn to pick it up when he gave her the news he wouldn’t make it to the party. Keeping his eyes on the road he tentatively said

“Hey so I have some bad news. I know we’ve been talking about it for a while now, but I can’t make it to Monty’s party on Saturday. Something happened with my grandpa so my dad insisted we go stay with them in Charlotte this weekend. Sorry babe”. 

Although disappointed I knew that there was a genuine reason Finn was going to be absent and I wanted to support him any way I could so I simply responded “no that’s totally okay! I’m sorry to hear about your grandpa. I can just drop off your gift for you, I’m sure Monty will understand! I’m here for you if you need anything”, gently leaning over to kiss his cheek as he drove. 

Grasping my hand we turned into the dealership and as I saw my new baby, all thoughts of the party were gone. 

xXx

Surprisingly, Bellamy actually got invited to Monty’s party this weekend. After the first week or so Clarke mellowed out around him, allowing things to go back to normal. Or like an appropriate version of normal. 

All summer he watched over his sister and her friends as he watched the beach and slowly got be apart of their friend group, despite being older. He had a sneaking suspicion it was because his 21st birthday was coming up in January, but he let it slide for the fact that they were actually really cool. He learned the newcomers were Anya, a girl from school who was tough as nails that he had spoken to more than once about threatening to kill any of the other beach patrons who hit on her. Bellamy also got to know Finn, Clarke’s boyfriend. 

Their initial encounter wasn’t exactly pleasant with Bellamy having to kick him off the beach that day for taking beach chairs from the storage shed without permission. Okay so maybe he let Octavia and her friends do that all the time last summer, but this kid was new, he was trying to show off and Bellamy just got a bad vibe from him so sue him if he went on a bit of a power trip. 

After that the two boys kept their distance from each other. Other than that their group enjoyed a lot of fun times this summer, with him and Miller blending right in. Miller was actually the reason Bellamy was not looking forward to this weekend as much as everyone else was. 

Although Bellamy was the head lifeguard, Kane still made the schedule and just so happened to put Miller on the closing shift at the beach on the night of Monty’s party. Being the awesome friend he is he agreed to take the shift and just work a double that day, on the condition they didn’t tell everyone that he knew in advance he couldn’t make the party. He wanted people to think it was a last minute thing where he was called in rather than something he knew for three weeks, partly because he could have gotten out of it but chose not to because he needed the money to save for O’s college. Gotta start early. 

So that’s how Bellamy ended up staying behind as the rest of his friends, minus Finn (although he wouldn’t consider them friends) who was apparently gone on some family emergency, left the beach and headed Jaspers to the party.

Clarke and Octavia hung back for a bit because they had rode together in Clarke’s car seemingly just to check on him.

“Guys it’s fine. Kane said that Murphy called in sick with an emergency or something and since I’m head lifeguard and I’m already here, I’ve got to fill the shift” he lied easily. 

“Alright if you’re sure big brother. I’ll save you some cake and take Monty our present. See you tonight?”

“See you tonight O”. 

Octavia turned to leave with a questioning look at Clarke who was still planted in the same place beside his chair. 

“Just give me a sec O. Here, take the keys” she said as she tossed the keys of her Jeep to his sister. Bellamy climbed down the chair, planning on walking up to Grounders to use the bathroom before getting back to work. Clarke walked beside him in silence until they reached the place the path diverged, one to the restaurant, one to the parking lot where she stopped him by grabbing his arm.

“Hey, I just want to say I know what you’re doing and I think it’s really nice of you” Clarke said sincerely. 

Scratching the back of his neck with one hand Bellamy responded “Going to the bathroom in a restaurant isn’t exactly apart of the Chivalric Code or anything princess…” but he knew that she knew he was covering for Miller, not Murphy. He could just see it in her eyes.

“You know that’s not what I meant”

“Yeah, I know” 

“Besides I said what you’re doing is nice, I didn’t say anything about you being a knight. If anyone hasn’t told you, you’re kind of an ass” Clarke said with a laugh

“Clarke Griffin did you just say I have a cute ass? Cause that’s definitely what I heard. Scandalous... “ he trailed off grinning. He was glad they were at a place where they could joke like this now. 

“Yeah well that too” she said with a shy smile “alright well I better get going, don’t want to keep your sister waiting”

“Yeah she’s not too good with patience. Have fun tonight Clarke” And he meant it. She deserved to have a little fun after all the work she does. 

“I will” and with that she walked off to the parking lot and Bellamy peeled his eyes away from her still-17-but-perfect-ass and went in the restaurant. 

Not much happened during the evening shift at the beach. Technically, they were supposed to close at 9 which is when Bellamy got to hop off the chair and go into his office to close up and wait for the last stragglers to leave the beach. Security doesn’t begin night patrols however until 11, and usually Bellamy is fine with just waiting while he sits in the tower and reads. But tonight he was hoping to catch some of the party before everyone got too drunk or stoned that his big brother instincts would kick in, especially with Octavia there. 

That’s when he sees the lone couple still on the beach at 9:45 he doesn’t think twice about going to where they were sprawled out on their blanket making out like if they didn’t have each others tongues in their throats at that exact moment the world would end. 

He cleared his throat loudly to no avail before calling out “Yo, you two who are going to catch both medical and literal crabs out here, time to go!” 

And it was at that point that the girl rolled off of her partner and Bellamy was glaring straight into the eyes of one terrified looking Finn Collins. 

xXx

Clarke had been having an awesome time at the party. There was booze, cake and good friends, the only thing that would have made it better is if Finn and Bellamy were there. Mostly Finn though of course. He hadn’t been answering her calls for most of the weekend so far, just sending off a quick text here and there. She figured he must have been busy with his family. 

She was wrong. 

When Bellamy came into the party around 10ish with a very pissed off looking female and was dragging Finn in by his collar, Clarke knew something was very very wrong.

Before she could get a word in to ask what was going on Bellamy just gave her a look of “Come. Now” and a nod for her to follow him as he headed to the unoccupied backyard with the angry chick in tow and proceeded to throw Finn to the ground. Running after them in a panic Clarke yelled “Hey! Don’t hurt him!” while shoving Bellamy away from him.

“Trust me princess you might want me to after you hear this.”growled Bellamy before glowering at Finn “You. Talk.”

Without meeting her eyes Finn began “Clarke look let me just say I never meant to hurt you. I thought Raven and I were over when I moved here last fall.”

Then came cold huff from the girl Clarke assumed was Raven. “Yeah. Right. Over. We were definitely over when you came back and fucked me multiple times over Christmas break, right?” It was at that moment Clarke noticed the dove necklace hanging around the other girl’s neck. She was wearing its twin. 

With a shaky voice she turned to Raven saying “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know about you. I would never….. How long have you been together?”

“Were. Passed tense. After Baywatch here showed up and told me about you, I punched that scumbag in the face and told him we were through. And now I’m here cause 1) I wanted to let you know I don’t blame you, I blame him and 2) free booze and cake. Good luck” she said before heading in to presumably find the keg. 

Turning her attention back to Finn as he sat there like a sad puppy on the ground, tears filled her eyes as a wave of rage just washed over her. 

“Get out” she spat “Don’t look at me, don’t talk to me, don’t even think about me. You are a good for nothing two timing son of a bitch, and when we get back to school you don’t even get to know me. You won’t exist. Now get out.” 

Looking away from him as the tears began to flow she could only hear the rustling sounds of him getting up before Bellamy’s gruff voice saying “if I catch you on my beach again I’ll kick your ass, and if I catch you near Clarke or any of my friends I’ll kill you. Got that?” She didn’t hear anything else so she assumed he nodded before hearing the tell tale sounds of feet up the back deck stairs and the opening and closing of the sliding door. 

She felt the sobs begin to wrack her body as she sank down in the grass and suddenly Bellamy was next to her with his arm around her shoulders. He didn’t say anything or do anything to soothe her, he was just there and that was all she needed. 

After what felt like forever the tears began to dry and she looked up at Bellamy. He was looking at the stars, easy to see on a clear night like this one. She nudged his shoulder to get his attention before murmuring a “thank you” before leaning back into him.

He brought his other arm around to envelop her in a hug allowing her to absorb his body heat as she realized the night had begun to cool off in the time they’d been out here and she welcomed the warmth. Eventually he pulled away to look at her before brushing one final tear off her cheek with his thumb. 

“Fuck him. Any guy that would be stupid enough to cheat on you isn’t a real man. He probably won’t ever be. You’re amazing, Clarke. Don’t you dare let yourself think this has anything to do with you. It’s all about him being an asshole and an idiot and an overall bad guy” he said softly as she leaned her cheek further into his hand. With a smirk on her face Clarke retorted

“Wow that kind of sounds like you” huffing out a laugh at the mockingly hurt look on his face “I’m just kidding, you’re a great guy. You’re the one who brought him here in the first place. I don’t even want to know how you caught him...God what’s wrong with me!? First you reject me last summer and now Finn turn out to be scummy. I repulse the good ones and attract the fuckboys! I think they wired me wrong!” She had meant to say it jokingly to lighten the mood but one look in Bellamy’s eyes as he pulls away tells her that is not the direction this conversation is headed.

“Listen, Princess. I know we never really talked about it after that day in my kitchen but I can definitely say you don’t repulse me. Quite the opposite after watching you in those bikinis all fucking summer” Clarke’s pretty sure she’s as pink as the t-shirt she’s wearing at this point, avoiding his eyes. 

Slowly, as if not to scare her, Bellamy grabbed her chin, turning her face towards him before saying “You’re perfect Princess, don’t let that asshole make you think any different”. He then surged forward, putting his soft, sun-chapped lips firmly against hers, eliciting a gasp from her.  
Bellamy took this opportunity to lick her lower lip, seeking entrance which she willing granted while tangling her fingers in the curls at the nape of his neck, and from there everything felt like slow motion. 

After what could have been seconds, minutes, or years she wasn’t sure Bellamy pulled away after giving her lips a final peck. Catching her breath she watched him, completely unsure of what just happened. Running a hand through his curls, messing them up even further than she had, he let out a sigh. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that” he mumbled. This snapped Clarke out her daze really quick, turning away from the boy who just took her breath away. 

Noticing the look of sadness that came back over her face he quickly added   
“not that I didn’t want to! God Clarke, I did. And I want to do it again I just… can’t. Not yet. You’re 17, I’m 20, and you just got your heart broken. I just wanted to let you know that you deserve someone who will love you and take care of you but that can’t be me...at least not right now. You need time. And if you’re still interested in me after that time, then we’ll talk. Okay? Cause I really don’t want to lose you again. I missed my friend who would argue with me over everything and nothing. Who would fight me every time I wanted to watch a documentary but sat there just the same and sketched. I don’t want to ruin this after it took a whole year to fix it.” 

Clarke sat shocked at his confession, working the words over slowly in her mind. It was better to be friends with Bellamy and let herself heal, than to fall into something she knew in her heart she wasn’t ready for and end up ruining everything. She made her decision. Slowly, she nodded and reached out for his hand. 

Raising an eyebrow he complied and Clarke smiled as she pulled his hand in for a handshake before laughing and going for a hug. Pulling away she smiled at him saying “thank you Bellamy. For everything. For bringing Finn here, for comforting me, for letting me know I’m worth it and that I’ll be someone’s everything one day. I don’t want to ruin this either, and I know I need to grieve him before I even think about my feelings for you. So, friends? For now at least?”

“Friends, always. The rest we’ll figure out eventually.” He said with a grin.

“So do you wanna go inside? I can’t believe nobody’s noticed us out here... “ she trails off to look back at the Jordan house only to find Octavia laughing her ass off as she watched them from an upstairs window. 

Grabbing her hand and pulling her up off the grass Bellamy led them back into the party which was unsurprisingly in full swing. She just had time to smile at Miller and Monty making out in the kitchen with a crown resting on Monty’s head before Octavia bounded down the stairs towards them, beaming. 

So this should be fun to explain….


	3. The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy are Clarke are just friends and they're fine with that, except for when Bellamy has to save her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *crawls out from under rock* Miss me? So I figured out I'm definitely more of a one shot kinda writer so that'll be mostly it after I wrap up this story. This one's a little shorter than the last two but that's mostly due to the fact that I've only been to the ocean twice so idk what a lifeguard does to rescue someone there... Anyways hope y'all like this update, I'll try and write the next chapter by next week! Pretty please give me some reviews or constructive criticism because I'm not too experienced with this and everything is completely unbeta'd 
> 
> Also I'm writing a 15 part one shot collection based on something. The first part of that will be up as soon as I finish this story! So uh look out for that lol

After Octavia teased them both relentlessly for a week, Bellamy found that being friends with Clarke was surprisingly easy. They texted each other things they found that the other might find infuriating, they coordinated with each other over what to get Octavia for Christmas, and she became a regular staple at his apartment again. 

Things felt normal and easy again, and other than a few looks that had a little too much heat behind them or lasted too long, the pair were just two friends. Bellamy even ended up going to Clarke’s graduation in June letting out an embarrassing whoop as she accepted her diploma. They never discussed the kiss or anything that was said that night in the backyard, they didn’t exactly move on, but they moved forward. 

The tension between them and the kiss didn’t resurface until mid- July that summer. 

It was one of the hottest days of the summer and there were hundreds of people on the beach for Bellamy to keep an eye on including all of his own friends. After having several stress-inducing successful rescues and having to help a few missing kids locate their families, Bellamy thought he might finally get a reprieve in the late afternoon as people started to head off the beach and up the boardwalk for a dinner break. He had just climbed into his chair when he heard the screaming. 

A chorus of “Help!” and “Bellamy!” had him down to the water as fast as his legs could carry him. 

“O! What’s wrong?” Asked Bellamy as tears sprang from her eyes

“ It’s C-clarke” she sputtered, pointing out into the ocean. “She swam out to get the football but she got wracked by a wave and went under!” Octavia didn’t even get the sentence out before Bellamy was already running in. At the mention of Clarke, his instincts took over.

Everything had happened so fast that Clarke had resurfaced about 40ft out, frantically splashing and flailing as she bobbed in the waves, trying to keep afloat. She must have been dragged out by the under current. Bellamy was swimming as if his life depended on it, because hers did. 

xXx

Breathe. Stay afloat. Keep your head up. Survive. 

Clarke repeated these things like a mantra in her head as she paddled frantically, trying to combat the force of the waves pressing her down. 

As her arms began to tire and the wave pushed her up, Clarke got a glimpse of Bellamy swimming furiously towards her. He had almost reached her when she was pulled under again, and her eyes went dark. 

xXx

Shit!   
He had almost reached her hand before the current took her back under again. Diving with all the strength he had Bellamy went under and wrapped an arm around Clarke’s torso hauling her back to the surface. He wouldn’t lose her today. Not if he had anything to say about. 

After the reaching the point he could stand, Bellamy scooped Clarke up bridal style and ran up the beach to lay her down. 

“Everybody move! Gimme some air!” he shouted to the onlookers as a small crowd had formed. 

But as soon as he looked at Clarke everybody else melted away. He had to save her. Trusting his training, Bellamy began doing compressions to the beat of “Staying Alive”, although the humour of the scenario had long lost its spark. 

Between breathing air into her lungs he began to talk to Clarke in a low tone, but he wasn’t sure if it was more for him or her. 

“Come on, princess.”

Breath

“You gotta wake up.”

Breath

“Stay with me, Clarke”

Breath. 

This time, it works. 

As Bellamy breathed the air from his lungs into hers, Clarke’s eyes opened wide. Sensing the change Bellamy pushed himself off of her, but not too far as he rubbed her back while she sputtered and coughed. She was still here. 

xXx

All of Clarke’s senses came rushing back to her and she was suddenly overwhelmed. Her nostrils and taste buds were consumed by salt water. The rush of sunlight coming of the water had her blinking several times over to adjust. Her ears were clogged but she could hear mangled voices talking to her. But mostly she was overwhelmed by the warm hand on her back, moving in circles as she came back to reality. 

Looking up, Clarke realized for the first time it was Bellamy talking to her. Well, him among others, but right now he was the only one she could see. He saved her life! And in that moment all Clarke wanted to do was kiss him again. 

So she did. 

Surging forward she planted her salty lips on his soft ones. The kiss was pretty much one sided, so Clarke panicked a little, but she figured it was just because he was surprised. Sitting back down in the sand and gazing up Bellamy through her lashes she didn’t miss the stunned look on his face as he whispered 

“Welcome back, princess”.

But she definitely missed the incredulous look Octavia was giving him as the crowd around them erupted into cheers. 

xXx

Saving Clarke had thankfully been the last stressful part of his shift. As he walked to his office to pack his stuff up for the night Bellamy wasn’t too surprised to find Clarke leaning against the tower waiting for him.

“Hey, Princess. I figured you’d be in bed by now after everything that happened today”

“Well what kind of princess would I be if I didn’t thank my knight in shining armour?” she said with a grin as she came off the wall towards him.

“I mean there’s not much to the armour… I’m pretty sure you can get red swim trunks for like $15 at Walmart” his face melting into its usual smirk as he reached her.

“Seriously Bellamy, you saved my life today. I can’t thank you enough for that. I was thinking we could stop in at Grounders and get some food? My treat” she said with a hopeful glint in her eye that he couldn’t help to both love and dread at the same time. 

Before he could get a word in she tacked on with a shy smile 

“And that kiss on the beach, I’m not really sure what I was thinking, but I do know I’m hoping maybe we could try that again later? Maybe when you’re slightly less shocked?” 

“Listen, Clarke -”

“Bellamy!”

Without having to look over his shoulder he knew who it was. His girlfriend, Gina, coming to pick him up for a late dinner after his shift ended. He watched as Clarke’s face fell and saw the hurt in her eyes before she forced them to harden. 

“I was going to tell you about Gina, but it just never came up. And then today I almost lost you and…. I’m sorry. I should have said something after you kissed me but there was so much going on and so many people were around…. I’m sorry Clarke” he whispered, before turning to where Gina was standing slightly farther up the beach.

“Hey babe, I’ll be right there” he called as he felt Clarke let out a shaky breath.

He turned back to Clarke for a last goodbye, hoping to say something to make this better… 

But she was already walking away. 

Shit.


End file.
